Fox has cast the leads for their upcoming Exorcist TV reboot

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Fox’s upcoming The Exorcist TV series has just cast its two main leads.

According to Deadline, Alfonso Herrera (Sense8, The Chosen) and Ben Daniels (House of Cards, Flesh and Bone) are set to headline the new drama pilot inspired by William Blatty’s 1971 book — and not the 1973 classic horror movie directed by William Friedkin — with a script written by Jeremy Slater, who wrote last year’s Fantastic Four (yep, that one).

Herrera will play Father Tomas, who is described as a “warm, selfless and compassionate leader of a small but hearty little church” while Daniels will portray Father Marcus, “the intense holy warrior carrying out an occupation that the church no longer acknowledges in public.” So no Father Merrin, then, uh?

As I mentioned above, this new version of The Exorcist is a modern reinvention of Blatty’s novel and not the film that scared the cr*p out of moviegoers when it came out back in 1973 (and it’s still scaring people to this day). The movie starred Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Linda Blair and Max von Sydow as Father Merrin. Deadline describes the new series as:

A propulsive, serialized psychological thriller following two very different men — Father Tomas Ortega (Herrera) and Father Marcus Lang (Daniels) — tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession and confronting the face of true evil.

The Exorcist pilot is not the only exorcism drama series heading to the small screen. Cinemax has Robert Kirkman’s Outcast coming up some time this year, and the Devil is also pretty much IN on TV right now, with Damien (a follow-up to The Omen) premiering March 7 on A&E, and Lucifer currently having a blast on Fox.